Reflexions on the field work

Feb 20, 2018

Here are some notes about our feelings in regard of the field work we have done last week in Bristol.
We asked ourselves what was good for the project in doing so, what we validated, what we learned and what are the biggest challenges and improvements we face.

Positives

Our iterative approach

We started with very open questions in order to be neutral observers of what the people of Bristol brought up as issues. We then refined our approach and made the questions more specific about topics they’d expressed. We were weary not to assume or project anything as researchers

Localised learnings

Our methodology made a conscious point of going to test in different areas with people from different backgrounds

Validations

In face to face interviews, the importance of trust in some contexts (ie people from the same neighbourhood, community organisations…). Phil Chan said that some people are harder to reach (by surveys or local gov) than others

Running street interviews with tablets as opposed to computers? Tech tools are social signifiers

Accessibility is key

We would have definitely missed out form items if we had to design the form solely based on our perception of the city

Learnings

Field work is hard (getting to a diverse pool of respondents requires time, effort, knowledge, etc). Weather can have a big effect on success / sufficient recruitment / conditions–it applies both to interviers and respondants

In disadvantaged areas, an ‘in person’ approach is key

Some people will need help to complete the survey and/or to be inclined to answer questions. Online survey works for able, computer literate, educated populations. How do we get to everyone?

Some people would have prefered to answer on paper (it feels less intimidating and it is easier to follow)

Although forms can be sequential, there is a desire to come back to early questions to alter responses

Short surveys (like 3 minutes for real) makes it a low risk offer for respondants

Being independant helps remove commercial concerns from respondants

Biggest challenges

Getting traction / interest from people with the arguments that suit them (differ if you’re a citizen, a civil servant, a community organisation, a data activist…)

Getting people excited / interested in answering the questions (survey, form are buzzkills)

Combine both a good form interface and a good data structure

Improvements

Typeform has some UI kinks that made our first iteration wonky and usability-unfriendly for some. We should try other platforms

Consider feedback carefully as it sometimes contradicts itself. Can express human contradictions ‘what a user says is not what a user does’ or can indicate a problem in the way questions are framed.

Twitter Ads platform was hard to setup and expensive to run—between $1.00 and $1.50 for a click

Time to iterate further!

Strategy for user expansion

Start with existing, close communities (open data advocates, service design folks) to refine the survey.
Then expand gradually.